The treatment for me appears to be low carb, moderate to lowish fat, and metformin - until it's fixed. I've tried everything else under the sun. I hate taking ANY meds but I finally gave up and went to my doctor. She agreed. My fasting insulin was double the high range for an adult.

I suspect wheat and corn in my case, too. I made my own bread for years, and ate tons of grainy snack foods and cereals. I almost never ate honey or fruit, so I probably didn't consume as much fructose as some.

Possibly one of the biggest forgotten factor is just love of food and treating it as entertainment. And the convenience factor. Even if fructose, wheat, seed oils and sugar were eliminated you would still have people becoming obese on almond meal and stevia pancakes, coffee with butter and "paleo" bread burgers if theses foods were just as readily available as today's convenient foods. I suppose that fits into the Food reward theory and that's not even mentioning emotional eating, which is another huge factor in of itself.

Possibly one of the biggest forgotten factor is just love of food and treating it as entertainment. And the convenience factor. Even if fructose, wheat, seed oils and sugar were eliminated you would still have people becoming obese on almond meal and stevia pancakes, coffee with butter and "paleo" bread burgers if theses foods were just as readily available as today's convenient foods. I suppose that fits into the Food reward theory and that's not even mentioning emotional eating, which is another huge factor in of itself.

Yeah, those are all valid points and I think fit into the Food Reward Theory. I don't know if people would become AS obese eating those foods if they were so convenient, but certainly it could occur. There are obvious cultural factors and attitudes towards food as well as individual psychological characteristics such as emotional eating and, IMO, addictive traits in the personality. Combined with properties that make food hyperpalatable and/or addictive, there ya go.

Yeah I am a little familiar with Johnson, but only in that I know he is studying fructose's effect on the diet and is somewhat in agreement with Lustig except for his emphasis on the uric acid factor as being primary. I definitely will look more into him. Actually I listened to an interview of his with Mercola earlier today.

Originally Posted by Scott F

While you're reading/researching you should consider reading Dr Richard Johnson's book "The Fat Switch." I see Johnson's work as building upon Dr Lustig's. What Johnson now believes is that the terminology "metabolic syndrome" should actually be called "the fat storage mechanism."

From Lustig's Sugar The Bitter Truth you know fructose increases uric acid. What Johnson's lab believes (and it's submitted to peer review) is that uric acid's affect on mitochondria's ability to make ATP sets fat storage in motion. Certain foods cause more uric acid production then others. Fructose is one of those foods. Krill/shrimp being high purine foods also drives uric acid.

So what's going on? According to Johnson's theory animals are eating seasonal foods that set them up to store fat for coming lean months. For humans and other animals fructose is the main trigger. For humpback whales it's krill....but it's this intracellular uric acid that's responsible in all animals to trigger fat storage, and that includes fatty liver.

The problem for us humans, however, is that we are now eating fructose year round. In addition to that we eat wheat. As it turns out, wheat is a major source of "Fructans" in the diet. Just like there's polymers of glucose called glycogen, plants can produce polymers of fructose called fructan. In his book, The Fat Switch, Johnson devotes a chapter to wheat titled "The Pillsbury Doughboy Syndrome."

Obesity is truly a common problem among Americans. It generally occur due to consuming junk foods and other sorts of extra fats generated stuffs. So you should always keep your diet healthy to become fit and fine.

One thing no one is touching with a 10 foot pole is epigenetics, or, what your grandmother ate while carrying your parent is affecting you today. I grew fat on breast milk; my Dad was a 14 1/2 lb whopper at birth, but no diabetes in his family. I am built like his mother, an was always compared to her girth, yet our diets were not that similar. But both my dad and I were born during the privations of world wars. I'm sure that counts for something.

Obesity is truly a common problem among Americans. It generally occur due to consuming junk foods and other sorts of extra fats generated stuffs. So you should always keep your diet healthy to become fit and fine.